October 2008 Press Release

 

Doug  Eadie’s newest book examines the
human dimension of the board-CEO partnership 

 

Oldsmar, FL, October 15, 2008—Drawing on his work with hundreds of nonprofit and public organizations,  nonprofit leadership expert Doug Eadie shows in his newest book, Building a Rock-Solid Partnership With Your Board, how board-savvy CEOs effectively manage the human dimension of the board-CEO relationship.

In this – his 18^th -- book on nonprofit leadership, he argues that the most successful CEOs make board partnership building a top priority and employ these five strategies to build a solid psychological bond with their board that endures through the most turbulent times:

• Bring the right mindset to the governing arena
  
  
• Make the board chair a close ally
  
  
• Turn members into strong owners
  
  
• Make governing work more interesting and enjoyable
  
  
• Put a well-designed CEO-evaluation process in place
  

For more than 25 years Eadie has been a consultant, teacher and writer, helping nonprofit CEOs and their boards work more collaboratively in pursuit of their organization’s vision.

While for-profit companies grab most of the public’s attention, the not-for- profit sector encompasses an estimated 1.4 million organizations—from two person civic clubs to retirement communities with hundreds of employees. With a volunteer governing board guiding all of them, they provide American cities and towns essential services spanning public education, housing, medical and mental health services and a full range of performing and visual arts.

Eadie’s mission is to help these boards fulfill their potential by improving their governing capacity. His high-impact governing model, which lies at the heart of his work, is designed to turn boards into real, dynamic governors of mission, performance, and future growth—rather than passive policy makers and reviewers of completed staff work. In recent months, he’s provided governance counsel to a major school district in Wyoming, a transportation agency in Michigan, an organization for the blind in Florida, and a national collegiate service fraternity based in Texas.

 “All Americans have a huge stake in these boards effectively carrying out their governing responsibility,” says Eadie,  “providing their organizations with clear strategic directions, monitoring performance, and ensuring that they have the resources to carry our their mission fully. Underutilizing board members by limiting them to a passive review-and-approval role can imperil the organization’s work and fray the precious board-CEO bond.”

The author cautions in the Afterword of the new book that CEOs who choose to put their board-building program on the back burner do so at a high cost—a board that doesn’t come to grips with the high-stakes issues facing their organization; a dysfunctional board-CEO working relationship that demoralizes staff and tarnishes the nonprofit’s image; and ultimately failure to translate the organizational vision into reality.

CEOs who take Eadie’s principles to heart will harness the extensive knowledge, experience, and connections that governing boards bring to their organizations, improving both their nonprofits’ long-term performance and their own job security.

 “This is the kind of down-to-earth, practical resource I could have used a quarter-century ago! It’s chock full of practical partnership-building techniques that you can put to immediate use in your organization,” says Jeffrey A. Finkle, President & CEO of the International Economic Development Council, who reviewed the manuscript for Eadie’s new book prior to publication.

When not on the road, Doug Eadie resides with his wife Barbara Krai in Oldsmar, FL.